Le Beau et la Bête
by Fenchurch1
Summary: McShep meets Disney. It's a fairy story with an SGA twist - very innocent.
1. Chapter 1

**Title: **Le Beau et La Bête

**Author:** Me

**Length: **This bit is about 3500 words. There are four chapters all together.

**Warnings:** This is DISNEY! Expect to recognise lines from both the Disney cartoon and also from all seasons of Stargate Atlantis!

**Pairings: **John Sheppard and Rodney McKay.

**Dramatis Personae**: Beau - John Sheppard

Beast - Rodney McKay

Enchantress - Chaya

John's stepmother - Elizabeth Weir

Gaston - Kolya

**Disclaimer**: I don't own any of the characters either from the Disney film, the original French story ,or the brilliant Stargate Atlantis series - not through lack of wishing though...

**Thanks and praise:** Goddess47 beta'd and laughed at me. Rieval tried to persuade me to use the original French story instead, so I dedicate this to both of them! I did include one scene from the original story - see if you can spot it! Anything else schmoopy, badly spelled, toe-curlingly awful etc. is all my own work!

Le Beau et La Bête – Chapter 1

Once upon a time, in a faraway land, a young prince lived in a shining, floating castle. Although the Prince was a genius and had all the scientific equipment his heart could desire, he was petty, rude and bad with people.

_But then, one winter's night, a priestess asked for shelter from the Wraith. Repulsed by her distinctly female appearance, the Prince sneered at the priestess and accused her of being an Ancient. She warned him not to be deceived by appearances, for beauty is found within and when he dismissed her again, the woman's solid appearance melted away to reveal a beautiful enchantress, who was, actually, also an Ancient. _

_The Prince crowed that he had been right and she was angry. When he saw that he might have gone a little too far, possibly, he tried to apologize, but it was too late, for she had seen that there was no love in his heart, and as punishment, she transformed him into a hideous beast, and placed a powerful… well… 'spell' on the castle, draining most of the power from the ZedPM, darkening the once beautiful city and transforming all the Prince's servants and scientists who lived there at the same time._

_Ashamed of his monstrous form, The Beast concealed himself inside his castle, with just a few of his favourite laptops, several satellites, a few MALPs, deep space sensors, lots of coffee and chocolate and the Stargate as his only window to the outside world. Chaya, the priestess and Ancient, told the Prince that if he could learn to love another, and earn that person's love in return, then the spell would be broken, the ZedPM would be recharged and all would go back to how it was. If not, he would be doomed to remain a beast for all time. As the years passed, he fell into despair, and lost all hope, for who could ever learn to love a beast?_

Elizabeth allowed herself a moment to sigh, before making a run for the gate. It had been her first trading outing in years, but she hadn't really come for the stalls, the shows, the trading and the gossip. Elizabeth had really come to meet up with Daniel Jack's son. In fact, the Market had been closing already when she left Daniel's house and then, as she made her way through the departing crowd, they had all heard the whine of the first Dart.

Already she could see the beams that were scooping up the victims of the Wraith and bringing misery to families around the galaxy. The Gates were a boon and a curse in one, and Elizabeth swore as she tripped over a tree root and landed in a tangled bush.

This mishap probably saved her life, as the white beam swept up the two people she had been following, but passed her by. Elizabeth was as safe sitting here in this prickly bush as anywhere, so she settled her pack, sent a prayer to the Ancestors that Sumner had made it home safely, and then, with her notes on the City of the Ancestors out on her lap, prepared to wait.

It was raining hard when Elizabeth awoke with a start and the day was clearly over. She stretched and pulled herself up to her feet, then listened out for some clues to what was going on. The Darts had gone and people were merely picking up the pieces and getting on with their lives. The Wraith hadn't culled this planet to extinction, but then they rarely did. It was a trading planet and so all they had to do was wait for one of their so-called 'worshippers' to tell them it was Market Day, and come and help themselves.

Elizabeth sighed and made sure that all her papers were together before setting off. She had spent far too many years researching the City to allow any of her notes to escape her. Daniel Jack's son, the scholar whose own notes rivaled her own, had given her much to think about and losing these papers would have been a tragedy. She hoped that he was safe.

Back at the Gate, she hesitated. She could just punch in the code for home and check on her stepsons, or she could try out the address with the extra symbol that Daniel had suggested. It had been the reason she had been summoned.

Could she? Could she just try it? See what happened?

What if it was an orbital Gate? Or an underwater one? Or that world where people said there were vicious monsters the size of trees? Ancestors! She didn't want to meet up with Kolya any time soon either! She was close to drowning in this rain, so could it harm? She sneezed.

Sam the Carter's daughter, Daniel's brilliant friend, had come up with a machine to check planets before going through Gates. Elizabeth didn't have one of those, but she did have a special code that was supposed to lift any shields for long enough to let a person through. She pulled the blue glowing globe out of her pack and held it over the DHD. Making her decision, she punched in the code and then approached the Gate with the globe held out in front.

As the Gate whooshed into life, she took a deep breath and then stepped through.

It had to be the City of the Ancestors! She had never before stepped through a Gate to find herself _inside_ a palace! There was a wide hall with a high staircase that swept up to a balcony with glass partitions and blinking lights. Elizabeth had never seen anything like it! She looked all around the semicircular hall and then sneezed.

The place was deserted… and yet it didn't feel empty. She felt eyes watching her every move.

"Hello?"

Nothing. She looked all around again, but still nothing moved.

"Hello? I… I'm sorry to intrude… I… I was at the Market… I… Hello?"

She twirled around as she heard… whispering. But there was no one there.

"Hello?"

"No." She distinctly heard a voice whisper.

"Hello? I mean no harm I… I… I… h… _atchoo!_"

"Och Kavanagh! Have a heart! She's soaked t'the bone!"

Elizabeth twirled around again and this time she almost screamed as a transparent blue, shimmering ghost with dark, curly hair and bright, merry blue eyes appeared in front of her.

"Look, you canna stay for long. Rodney will be furious, but you canna go home like that! I'm a doctor and I can help ye."

"No!" A second, pony-tailed ghost appeared with a sour expression. "You know what the Prince would say! He does not want guests! You, lady, need to go back home. How did you get past the shield anyway?"

This ghost waggled a finger at Elizabeth, who stepped backwards and nearly fell over when she found herself facing yet another ghost.

"Is not a good idea! One cup of tea, then she goes, yes?"

"You are not in charge, Radek." The second ghost, Kavanagh, stated peevishly.

"I am Chief Scientist!"

"An' I'm a doctor!" the first ghost with the strong accent interrupted. "I'll tell Rodney if you like, but she needs to recover." He floated over to Elizabeth and looked sad when he realized that he couldn't actually touch her. "Come with me, Lass, and we'll find ye a…"

All argument was interrupted when a sudden roar erupted from one of the corridors, and all three ghosts whirled around.

"Oh crap!" the doctor said and Radek and Kavanagh simply disappeared.

Elizabeth nearly screamed when a vast shadow that seemed to be all teeth and claws, swooped down on her and dragged her into the light.

"What are you doing here?" A voice roared at her.

"I'm… I'm sorry…" She answered, trembling.

"You are not welcome!"

"I didn't mean…"

"Och, Rodney, have a heart!"

The ghost with the strange burr spoke softly and she felt drawn to his friendly voice.

"She came to laugh at me!" The monster growled and then turned its attention back onto Elizabeth. "Admit it! You came to stare at The Beast!"

"I… I came here from the Market. I was escaping the Culling!" She tried to remember her lessons in Diplomacy, a subject she had always been good at, but she didn't feel confident of success.

"The Wraith!" The Beast roared and dragged Elizabeth with him.

"My Lord, this may not be good idea." Elizabeth recognized the voice of the ghost called Radek.

"Go and make the cell available."

"But Sir, she's only…"

The Beast growled and the ghost winked out of sight.

Thankfully, The Beast left her alone once she had been flung into a cell. It was more like a cage than a real dungeon, and the floor was hard and smooth, but she was still trapped and very cold.

"Hey!"

She looked up and saw the two ghosts with the accents, the Doctor and Radek.

"Hey, lassie, what's your name?"

"I'm Elizabeth. Who are you? Where am I?"

"I'm Carson and this is Radek. We live and work here in Atlantis."

"The City of the Ancestors?"

"Aye! That's the one!"

"But The Beast…?"

"That is Prince Rodney." Radek told her ruefully. "He has a bit of a temper."

"He's a prince?"

"He is." Radek replied again. "But I am scientist. Can you tell me your home address? I can send a message back for you."

"The… the Beast will allow that?"

"No, but I will do this anyway." Radek shrugged and grinned.

Elizabeth wrote the address down and then settled back to eat the food that Carson had brought her. Perhaps she would be able to find out if Sumner had arrived home safely? And maybe, one day, she would see her favorite stepson, John.

John looked up from where he was spreading straw for the horses and sighed.

"It's not right that you should have to work like this, John."

"Mora." John sighed and tried to ignore her.

"You should be a lord with a hundred servants! You would never have to do this again!"

John said nothing. He had heard this all before and it just made life hard for him when he went home. His older brothers were jealous that Lady Mora, the niece of the Great Acastus Kolya of the Genii, should want to marry him and not them! The trouble was that he never seemed to see it coming. Neither of them seemed to realize that there was so much more John wanted out of life! If only Mora would take Sumner or Everett instead…

"You will be my husband and consort." Mora told him crossly. "And you will rule at my side when I am Queen!"

A shadow of a tall soldierly man fell over John and he managed to keep his anger at bay. Commander Kolya had obviously joined them and John found the man creepy.

"Mora, my dear. And John."

"Commander." John grunted with a vague nod in the Commander's direction. He then turned his back on both the unwanted visitors and strode off to place the fork back in its place.

"You know, my dear," John heard the sinister soldier tell his niece. "You could have anyone! You don't have to have this stable lad!"

"He's the most handsome man in all the federation, Uncle, that means he's the best. And don't I deserve the best?" She shook her head of curls in a very princessly fashion and set off to the house that John called 'home'.

John had plenty of chores to do. It wasn't that he was badly treated, it was just that he was the only one in the house prepared to do the work. If he didn't muck out the horses, clean the house, cook and keep the house, then it just wouldn't be done.

Elizabeth was a fantastic cook, but she was a scholar first and he would do anything for his stepmother. Everett and Sumner just cared about wine and gambling and spoke of nothing but soldiering, while Father indulged his two older boys and hit John if things were left undone.

Sumner's contribution to the household consisted of shopping, sometimes even buying food, while Everett's was to criticize John and basically order him about.

Perhaps he should take up Mora's offer of marriage, John mused, at least it would get him away from here, but he just couldn't stomach having anything to do with the girl – princess or not. He didn't mind girls as such, but he couldn't marry one.

Besides, she came with 'Uncle Acastus' and the whole planet of the Genii and, frankly, John would rather marry a Wraith Queen.

He washed up and made his way to the kitchen to start cooking. Life had been so much easier when his father had been rich, before the three older men of the house had discovered the gaming tables and races, and they had lived in a large house with staff to do all the things that John did now. It wasn't fair that his father and brothers seemed to blame him for their misfortune, but John just kept going, hoping against hope that some day things would improve.

At the moment, his greatest sorrow was that his beloved stepmother was missing.

Elizabeth owned the house they lived in now and had married Father as a favor to Jack O'Neill, the leader of the planet Terra. She didn't put up with her husband's rudeness and could even make John's brothers behave civilly, but she had gone to talk with Dr Daniel and the news of the culling was spreading. For all he knew, Elizabeth could be in a hive ship, dead or waiting for death.

Ever since he had seen his first Wraith Dart, John had wished to fly. He had visions of flying in space to, first, rescue the people culled and then, second, destroy the Wraith ships once and for all. He read all stories of the Ancestors avidly, dreaming of the ships they were supposed to have flown and planning what _he_ would do with such technology.

As far as he knew, the Genii were the only people to have the ability to make space ships, but they were too busy building weapons that would destroy more than just the Wraith. They seemed to want to conquer the universe! Marriage with Mora would give him access to the ships, but at what cost?

He just hoped that one day Elizabeth and her friends would find the Ancestors and negotiate with them to persuade them come back and destroy the Wraith… or else give him the ships to do it himself.

When Elizabeth had left, on the fateful morning, she had asked each one of her boys what they wanted her to bring back from the Great Market. Everett had demanded a gold trimmed waistcoat, Sumner had wanted a new gold watch and Father had told her to get him some proper boots as his two pairs were seriously old-fashioned.

John hadn't been able to think of anything he desired, so he had told her that he just wanted her to come back safely. She had smiled warmly and allowed him to accompany her to the Gate, where she hugged him, then stepped through the Puddle (as John called it) and that was the last time he saw her.

Father was now upstairs with Kolya, planning. It made John sick that he was so eagerly grasping the money and assets that really belonged to Elizabeth, assuming that his wife was dead, or at least as good as. Who knew what Kolya was offering him now that he was rich again? John moodily banged the oven door closed on the chicken he was roasting for their dinner and cursed, just as he heard footsteps on the stairs down to the kitchen.

"JOHN!"

_crap_! "Yes Father?"

"What's this I hear about you refusing to marry Lady Mora?"

_Double crap_! "I don't love her, Father."

It was fairly inevitable that he would be knocked to the ground. He picked himself up and found himself being hauled across the kitchen and pushed up against the wall.

"You _will_ marry her! She's rich and a princess and one day she will rule the Genii!"

"I don't want to have anything to do with her or the Genii!"

His head rang with the blow.

"You will marry her!"

"No!"

Father shoved John to the floor again and put his hands on his hips in exasperation.

"I don't understand how any son of mine can be so bloody stupid! She's got ships! She's got men and gold! They even have weapons! Isn't that what you are always going on about?"

"No Father. I will not marry her."

"You _will_ marry her. She will bring us riches and power and I will personally force you to the temple where you will be gagged and bound until it is time for you to…"

Just as his father was moving towards him, probably for more violence, Sumner came running down the stairs, shouting.

"Father! Father! The Gate just activated!"

Father whirled around, temporarily forgetting his quarrel with his youngest son.

"Wraith?"

"No… I don't think so. I haven't heard the whine."

"You!" Father pointed at John. "Up and see what it is! NOW!"

John was only too glad to obey this command!

The Gate wasn't far from the town John and his brothers had moved to five years before. Most towns grew up fairly near the Gate on most planets, since it was the only way to get off the planet and therefore the only way the population could trade with others.

John jogged to the Gate to find that it actually was not the Wraith. There was a crowd gathered around the object that had appeared and the people parted, when John was spotted, to allow him through.

"It's addressed to Lord Patrick, John." Halling told him. Halling had once worked for the Sheppard family, but now he only spoke to John.

"How can it be 'addressed'?" John asked, but it soon became obvious. The thing that had trundled through the Gate was a machine on wheels, a bit like a trolley. Attached to the trolley was a folded piece of paper and on the outside Lord Patrick Sheppard's name was written.

John snatched the paper and opened it up, gasping at its contents.

"It's from my Stepmother!" He told the audience gleefully. "She's alive!"


	2. Chapter 2

**The story so far...**

John's Stepmother, Elizabeth, has been captured by The Beast in the City of the Ancestors. John must brave a journey to Atlantis to try to get her back...

Le Beau et La Bête - Chapter 2

In the end, John had to run away.

The weird machine that had appeared through the Stargate had brought the information that they needed to launch a rescue for Elizabeth, but neither of his brothers, nor his father were prepared to risk going into the lair of this Beast.

The message had been quite clear, even if it had been sent by such a strange method. Elizabeth was being held, in Atlantis Castle (the seven symbol address was written out) that was ruled by a Beast, and anyone who came to rescue her had to realize that it wouldn't be easy.

John gave it a lot of thought. He weighed up the pros and cons and then flipped a coin. It didn't really make much difference, as he had already made up his mind that he would be going to Atlantis. So what if his father beat him to a bloody pulp afterwards? So what if his brothers helped? He had wanted a way of getting off this planet and this was it! Besides, anything was better than being forcibly married to Lady Mora.

So John packed a bag and slipped away that same night, running for the Stargate and punching in the symbols for this castle. As the gate shimmered into action and the mass of bubbles whooshed out and back in again, John tried to ready himself for adventure.

He had nothing but his bag of spare clothes, some bread, a big book and himself (he would have taken his guitar, but thought it might get in the way if he had to do any fighting), but he had to find his stepmother and bring her back, after all, she was probably the only person in the universe who really cared about him.

"You can't let him in!"

"He will be splat against shield if I do not!"

"You _can't_! The Prince will kill us!"

"I am letting him in." Radek nodded at Peter, who mentally pressed the correct buttons and lowered the shield.

"You will take full responsibility!" Kavanagh declared. "The Prince will know exactly who went against his orders!"

"Good. Fine. Go away!"

The argument was halted when they caught sight of exactly who was stepping through the Gate. Even though he preferred women, even Radek could see that this man was beautiful. His messy hair and stubbled chin merely added to the attraction, and he moved into the Gateroom gracefully, although he was ready to fight.

John's senses were on full alert, but he was confused. First of all, he was trying to conquer his fear, facing the unknown and really not sure what or who he would have to fight. Then there was the weird tugging in his mind… like a message of… of welcome! It was as though the city was… _talking_ to him! It was telling him that he had been missed, that the city was his… that he was _home_!

The room he had stepped into was a culture shock in and of itself! There were blinking lights all over the place, the floor was weirdly smooth and there was a flight of stairs that led up to balconies and more passageways. John had never been in a castle before, but he had been expecting something more… well… old.

Where was the throne? Where were the guards in ceremonial dress? The courtiers? The treasures? Actually… where was everyone?

"Hello?"

Okay, perhaps calling attention to yourself when you were breaking into a castle was not the wisest course of action, but it seemed to have little effect anyway.

"Hello?"

"It's reacting to him!"

He spun around on hearing the fierce whisper – but there was no one there; no one by the deck of flashing lights and screens and no one in the corridors leading away from this huge entrance hall.

"Hello? I've come for my Stepmother… Elizabeth Weir. I got the note… Hello?"

"It's him! It has to be! He's the one!"

"Shut up!"

John twisted about, but there was no one around. Nothing moved and nothing breathed. It was just… weird.

There was that bizarre tugging feeling again, as though something was pulling him, by the brain cells, towards the corridor. It was something that promised him light and pleasure and he felt compelled to follow.

As he walked along the corridors, lights came on and the building seemed to hum with something that felt akin to excitement. It was confusing and John was fairly sure that he ought to be scared, but somehow he couldn't feel anything but curious and, weirdly… safe.

At last he reached a room that held a strange kind of cage, one that was surrounded by beams that were lit up, and inside the cell, was…

"Elizabeth!"

"John? John? Is that you?" Elizabeth came to the side and John could see that she was exhausted and cold.

"Elizabeth! Who did this to you?"

"John, listen to me. You must go away from here! It's not safe!"

"I'm not leaving without you!"

"You don't understand, John…"

But it was too late. There was a loud roar of rage behind him and John twirled around to find himself face to face with a monster made up of claws and teeth.

"Oh crap!"

With Elizabeth's marriage to his father, John had been educated to a much higher degree than his two brothers. Everett and Sumner were deemed 'old enough' to cope on their own in the adult world, while John was, at that time, still school-aged. Elizabeth had helped him in his study of languages and literature and she had brought teachers from other planets to help him with his mathematical studies, which he loved so much.

Elizabeth had also taught John about negotiation and diplomacy. He wasn't brilliant at it, but then it soon became clear that the Beast was completely useless at it. The Beast was far too blunt and honest, and it wasn't long before Elizabeth was being dragged out of the cell while John was thrown in, after offering himself to take her place.

The Beast, however, didn't give John a chance to speak to his Stepmother, as he dragged her straight to the Gate and almost threw her onto her own planet.

John was left alone in the cell, wondering what the hell he had got himself into. At least Elizabeth was safe and she would go and sort everything out at home. Mora would have to find someone else to obsess over and John would have to just wait and see what would happen next.

Prince Meredith Rodney McKay of Canada had really not given any thought to what he would do with the prisoner in his cell. He had just wanted to get rid of her and then get on with his research. If only the scientists were better, quicker, approaching his own level of intelligence, he might finally get something done! He might even find a way to reverse the 'spell', or even get the city up and running again. All he needed was more information about the Zed PMs and time. As it was, he only felt confidence in Radek… Oh, what he could do to Kavanagh if he were back home with the royal dungeons at his disposal!

Now, though, there was a new prisoner in his cell. A beautiful man who had placed himself in danger for the sake of his mother… or was it mother-in-law? Ye Gods the man was gorgeous! And then there was the way the city was calling to him. She was drooling over him, all but rolling over and baring her stomach… the floozy!

"Your highness?"

"What?" He snapped at Radek, the ghost that was supposed to be in charge of the laboratories.

"Have you thought… maybe he is the one?"

"Of course I have. I'm a genius!"

"Yes Sir."

"But that means that I also know that it's stupid to even think about it! He's supposed to fall in love with me, and we both know _that_ isn't going to happen!"

"But, maybe… if you were nice to him…? Perhaps you could offer him a better accommodation?"

Rodney's only answer was a roar and a snap of sharp teeth.

"Then again, maybe not!" Radek flinched and winked out of existence.

Radek was annoying, Rodney knew this, but occasionally he had ideas… ideas that Rodney could listen to and improve on.

The Beast bounded directly back to the cell and opened it.

"Follow me!" He commanded.

"What?" John asked, surprised.

"You want to stay here?"

"Not really."

"Then follow me."

John stood and followed the huge creature, watching how the monster's fur moved under the artificial light. Already John was revising his opinion of the threat this Beast imposed. He obviously had sharp claws and teeth, he had animal instincts and the strength of a creature that big, but there was something… sweet… John almost coughed at this thought. Yeah, right! Sweet! That thing!

The Beast stopped in an open area that was brightly lit, and actually quite cheerful looking. John looked around with some surprise, as the Prince turned to what looked like just another bit of wall. He waved his paw around in front of a lit panel and the wall opened up.

"Your room." The Beast growled.

It was a strange shape and there was a large window with a gauzy curtain draped around it. The bed looked short and narrow to John, but it was better than the cell. There was other furniture – a sofa, some chests and so on, and it seemed rather pleasant to John.

"I thought I was supposed to be a prisoner."

"That can be arranged." Rodney grumbled. "Look, if you want anything, my servants will arrange it for you. You can go anywhere you want, although be careful because parts of the city aren't safe. The Chair Room and the connecting rooms are forbidden."

"What's in the…?"

"THEY'RE FORBIDDEN!" Rodney roared and snapped his teeth, causing John to step back involuntarily.

"Otherwise the castle is yours. You will join me for meals."

"I beg your pardon?"

"I said you will take your meals with me."

"I'd rather not."

"Fine, then you can go ahead and starve! When you pass out from lack of food, then we'll see!"

The Beast stomped out of the room and found his scientists and servants all gathered around, watching.

"My Lord, I could be wrong, but I think this is not the good way to win his heart," Radek suggested timorously.

"What?"

"You could, at least, attempt to be a gentleman," A lady with copper hair that glinted ethereally stepped forward and spoke reasonably.

"Yes, thank you for that Teyla!" Rodney answered sarcastically.

"It can not harm."

Rodney huffed, but he drew himself up. Teyla and Carson drifted closer. The secret to dealing with the Prince was to find an in. Once you had his attention, then all you had to do was abide the sarcastic barbs and do your best to slip in your ideas and hope he listened.

"Fine. What do I do?"

"Keep your voice calm," Carson told him.

"Don't be sarcastic!" Radek suggested.

"And be polite!" All three of them said together.

"Polite!" Rodney snorted. He knew he was rude, but he was a Prince, and a genius, so why the hell not? "Fine!" He knocked on the door.

"_Go away!_" They all heard from the other side of the door. Rodney pointed at the source of the noise and looked at his servants.

"Attempt to be polite." Teyla managed to keep her equanimity.

"Right, fine, polite," Rodney huffed. "John, it would give me great pleasure if you would join me for dinner."

"Rodney!" Carson insisted.

"Right… _please_!" Rodney added.

"_NO_!"

Rodney roared! "THEN YOU SHALL STARVE! You hear? He eats with me, or not at all!"

With a flash of ragged lab-coat, the Beast leaped out of the corridor and disappeared.

"Not quite what I was hoping for," Radek commented.

"No. And he said 'please'!" Carson agreed.

"We have much work to do," Teyla sighed. "I will talk to the Prince. Radek, will you monitor John's room? If he comes out, then we shall do our best to make him welcome."

"I don't think that's a good idea," Kavanagh spoke up, appearing suddenly.

"He said we were to serve him. That includes feeding him and seeing that he is comfortable," Teyla insisted and then turned back to Radek. "Let me know and Ronon and I will take care of him."

Of course Ronon would not stay away. As soon as Teyla told him about the new guest, he materialized inside John's room.

"Hey!"

"What the F…!" John cried out as Ronon appeared. There is nothing so terrifying as a slightly transparent giant with wild dreadlocks apparating behind you with absolutely no warning. "But.. but you're a… you're a…"

"Ghost? Yeah. Not dead though. We all are."

"What… who are you?"

"Ronon, and you?"

"J…John."

"You fight?"

"Fight?"

"I'll take you to the practice room after dinner and we'll spar." Then he disappeared!

Once John had got over the shock of a nearly see-through giant challenging him to a fight, he remembered that 'Ronon' had mentioned food, and he decided to go and explore.

Once again there was that strange tug in his mind, and he followed it, passing through several corridors that really all looked the same to him, until he was completely lost. In fact, without that helpful signposting in his head, he would probably have got so lost in the city that they would never have found him again.

As it was, he found himself in a large open space littered with chairs and tables, and a meeting of ghosts who spun around and made excited noises around him.

"Wait! Wait!" John broke into the chatter and they all stopped. "What are you? Who are you?"

"I am Radek Zelenka." Radek drifted closer and nodded in greeting. "I am Chief of Scientists. This is Teyla, who looks after the Prince, this is Carson, our physician and this is Peter who runs Gateroom."

"I'm the chef here…" A short fat man in white drifted closer to him. "Do you like Lemon Chicken?"

"Sergeant!" A few voices accused.

"What? I know _he_'s allergic to it, but it's my best dish! I want to make it for someone!"

"I… yeah… I like Lemon Chicken. But…"

Suddenly John was no longer surrounded by curious ghosts. Instead they were bustling around and preparing, what seemed to be a huge feast!

There was music and tablecloths, candlelight, plates being floated over by insubstantial hands and John felt like he was in the middle of a grand production!

The Lemon Chicken, when it came, was superb and there was a feeling of excitement all around him, even from the city herself… and when did he start thinking of the castle as a 'she'?

Sparring with Ronon and Teyla was surreal. Neither of them had substance with which to hold the sticks they favored, and yet they were able to maneuver them with horrible accuracy. John had always considered himself a good fighter, able to hold his own against his two older and stockier brothers and confident enough to cope with most situations, but suddenly he found himself being soundly thrashed by a couple of ghosts – and one of them was female and a lot smaller than him!

Over the next few days, John found himself a routine. He would eat in the hall with Rodney. He couldn't get out of it and Rodney seemed to be there every time he appeared, at whatever time he appeared! John suspected that Peter was spying on him and forcing Rodney to be there at the right time.

Then he would spar with Ronon and Teyla. After showering and seeing Carson for band-aids, John would explore for a while. He was desperate to find this famous 'Chair Room', which was apparently forbidden, but so far the city wasn't co-operating. The transporters were truly cool and the piers were awesome!

The first time John stumbled on Rodney's laboratory, he was completely astounded.

In the middle of it all Rodney would be seated at one of the machines they all referred to as 'Computers' or 'Laptops'. There were screens all around showing maps, stars, ships, diagrams and other drawings that John didn't understand.

The ghosts would all be doing research of their own and he gathered that there were many others in other laboratories – or 'labs' – studying all branches of science. ("Although I refuse to recognize the wishy washy crap the anthropologists think is a science!" Rodney grumbled.)

There was always a small team of scientists, wearing some kind of uniform in spite of being insubstantial, gathered around Rodney. It seemed that, quite apart from Rodney's own deep research into… whatever it was… he was also obsessed with the up-keep of the castle and the fight against the Wraith,

"The Ancestors… as you probably call them… just abandoned the city when the Wraith became too strong." Rodney explained. "They were a bunch of cowards who just upped and left us all to get on with it on our own!"

John was surprised at this judgment. He was used to hearing the Ancestors venerated as Gods, but he found himself agreeing with the Beast on this one.

"The city was dying and we gave her life. Certain people have the gene… a certain strain of… well, it's a bit like blood and breeding. You know? If you want a really good horse, you get two really good horses and their off-spring will be excellent too."

"Dumb this down any more and I may have to hit you." John retorted.

There was a stunned reaction from all around, including Rodney, but then the Beast burst into laughter and the ghosts relaxed. No one… except for perhaps Radek and possibly Carson, had ever been rude back to Rodney!

"Anyway, some people have the gene and most don't. I didn't. At least, I did but it was dormant. Carson discovered how to… wake it up and now I can use the Ancients' technology."

John loved turning up and watching the scientists working. Rodney himself was fascinating. He was clearly in charge and extremely competent. John was a little surprised to discover this, as Rodney had a habit of telling everyone how great he was, and in John's experience, this usually meant the opposite. You only had to look at Kavanagh…

Rodney was the genuine article, however. Radek was obviously pretty close and the two of them seemed to speak in half-sentences, knowing where the thoughts of the other were going before anyone else had even worked out what they were talking about! Rodney thought fast, moved fast and spoke fast and his paws flew around in excitement, making dexterous patterns, in spite of the claws.

The way he treated his staff was astonishing to John. He berated them, shouted at them, belittled them and called them all idiots with clockwork regularity. He could make almost anyone cry with just his voice and a lot of sarcasm, and yet John saw their delighted faces when he praised them. Very few of the ghosts really seemed resent their treatment and most of them were clearly fiercely loyal to their Beast.

One time John appeared in the labs to discover that a large group of them were just gathered around a large board. The board was covered in mathematical equations and they were all staring at them as though hoping that the answer would jump out at them.

Rodney was pacing around on the other side of his favorite lab, every now and again coming back to stare at the board and then shaking his head, muttering and heading back to his laptop.

John wasn't quite sure what was going on, but he had a strong feeling that Rodney knew what was wrong. He looked at the equations. John had no idea what they meant in terms of Physics, or whatever they were, but he could see that one of the equations couldn't balance, because they had managed to incorporate a negative stroke into the second column that was actually left over from a previous set of workings.

John watched for a while until he could take no more and he quietly moved forward to join the ghosts. They were all muttering to themselves and fingering their own chins, crossing and re-crossing their arms and drifting around in thought, but John looked at Rodney.

"Of course," He spoke suddenly, breaking into the low-level muttering. "This is just an old mark." He rubbed it out. "That might help you."

He turned around to find that Rodney had broken into peels of laughter.

"Have you ever studied Physics?" He asked his prisoner.

"Nope."

"But you've studied Math right?"

"Yeah."

Rodney patted him on the shoulder. "You bunch of morons should be ashamed of yourselves! Get lost the lot of you and make sure that every single board in this castle is _completely_ clean!"

They were gone in seconds. Rodney grinned at John.

"You're not stupid."

"Nope." John agreed smugly.

Rodney laughed again and set some equations for John to do.

After that John got quite used to being asked to 'just check over this Math' and 'see if this balances, would you?' It made him feel as though he belonged, even with these boffins. Gradually he started to get to know them, and even to call some of them friends.


	3. Chapter 3

Le Beau et la Bête – Chapter 3

It took John a little time to feel that he could expect answers to his main questions, but eventually he decided that he could wait no longer and he chose a time when Rodney was elsewhere to approach the Chief of Science.

"Radek?"

Radek looked up from the computer he was fiddling with.

'"Yes John?"

"What happened?"

"What do you mean?"

"How did Rodney become… you know…"

"The Beast? It is a dark tale and I am not sure that I should tell you."

"_He_ won't!"

"Ah! Yes, well, Dr McKay can be difficult when he is hurting. He will be silent and brooding."

"So you are the only one who can explain… unless you want me to go to Kavanagh." John smirked at the shudder that ran through the scientist.

"Kavanagh would tell you the tale all wrong," Radek sighed and stretched his back muscles.

The scientist led the guest to a bench on one of the balconies off the lab, and then began to explain.

"The Prince comes from…"

"Why do you call him that?"

Radek looked puzzled and shrugged.

"He's our prince. He's _The Prince_."

"Where does he come from?"

"Canada. His parents are King and Queen, but they did not want him, so they sent him here, to Atlantis."

"Didn't want him?"

"Do you want to hear the story or not?" Radek demanded and made to stand up, but John caught hold of the man's flying arms – or at least he tried to – in fact his hands just slid through the insubstantial body of the ghost. Radek, however, allowed himself to be mollified and merely pouted.

"Please, Radek, don't stop. I'm just curious… I want to know why he is the way he is."

Radek scowled, but he settled back on the bench, his ethereal form seeming to find the hard seat uncomfortable.

"The King was a very hard man. He always wanted everyone to work as hard as they could and to the best of their abilities. He was hardest of all on Dr McKay. The Prince really is a genius and the kingdom would probably be destroyed several times over if not for his brilliance! But don't tell him I said that! The Prince could never please his father enough. The Princess had no problems. She is a genius too, but she is also better with people and anyway, she is a girl. When she married Prince Kaleb, the king made her heir and sent Dr McKay here to work."

"That seems a harsh way to treat a prince."

"Yes, but it is also what The Prince wanted. He gathered together the best people he could find and so, here we are. Major Lorne commands the guard, Teyla is his Chamberlain, Ronon is his bodyguard and I am Chief of the scientists and we work to make the weapons that will defeat the Wraith and to make scientific discoveries."

"I always thought that the City of the Ancestors would be more beautiful."

"It was beautiful. It was glorious… until the enchantress came."

"Enchantress?" John didn't quite manage to keep the skepticism out of his voice.

"Yes, enchantress… priestess…"

"Seriously?"

"Seriously."

"What happened?" Radek seemed perturbed by something and he stopped talking. This did not stop John from asking questions however. "Did she make him change? Did she make you… ghosts? Does it have anything to do with the Chair Room?"

Radek pursed his lips and shook his head.

"John, I have already told you too much. The Chair Room is forbidden and you can not go there."

"But what if I…"

"No John."

And with that, Radek faded away and John was left alone.

A bored John is a dangerous John. He had played the computer game where he could build a country his own way. He had been beaten up by Ronon, who could even manage to beat him when mind-controlling sticks! He had even gone down to the kitchen and helped them with the cooking, so now he decided that it was time to do some more exploration.

He didn't care if it was dangerous; John just wanted to see what secrets were being held in the fabulous city.

At first, he found nothing but labs, corridors, dead plants and strange rooms with tanks filled with bubbles, but eventually he found rooms with beautiful glass windows, corridors that seemed to be much more colorful and wider, until he finally came out into a large room where he saw the Stargate.

There were machines all over the place with big screens and flashing lights. There were boxes and John felt drawn towards a door. It was emitting a low hum and seemed to be almost vibrating, calling to him, so he stepped closer, one hand extended, creeping nearer and nearer until he could finally touch it.

It opened into, what seemed to be, another lab, but there were boxes such as the kind of crates that appeared at markets around the galaxy. In the middle was the console that was humming and he knew that he had to touch it.

His rational mind told him that it had been a mistake as soon as he made contact. A huge black cloud seemed to emerge from it and… John knew no more.

"Well, look who's back! How're you feelin'?"

"Huh?"

John looked up and all around. He was lying on a high bed and was surrounded by machines that were beeping. There was a dark curly-haired ghost looking down at him, wearing a cheeky smile and speaking in a weird accent.

"Welcome to the infirmary." he said. "I'm Dr Beckett, but you can call me Carson."

"Doctor? Where am I? What happened?"

"You seem to have activated an entity."

"A what?" John tried to sit up, but the doctor leaned into him and he found himself settling back.

"A big black malevolent cloud. You've got people running around all over the city, Rodney's furious."

John was impressed at Carson's cheerful attitude. "You called him Rodney!"

"Aye, well, I've known him a long time! Your sucking cloud has already attacked Ford and Miko and Rodney's in the Control Room shouting blue murder."

"Right! You realize that you have caused total _havoc_!"

Suddenly, before John had a chance to express his dismay at the mayhem he had evidently caused, there was The Beast, growling and baring teeth.

"Oh shush!" Carson admonished. "You know John didn't intend this to happen."

"You're just thrilled that you get to practice your black arts for once!" Rodney growled. "And get out!"

Carson opened his mouth, but then thought better of it, and abandoned John by dissolving away.

"I didn't mean it," John offered.

"No, but you disobeyed! You were specifically told not to go near the Chair Room! Now you know why! There are dangerous things around this city that even _I_ only half understand! You need to stick to your rooms and _don't go poking about!_" The final comment was made to the accompaniment of teeth and growls.

"What is it?"

"It's an energy creature that has been here since the Ancients were here."

"Ancients?"

"The Ancestors. They weren't gods, they were just semi-clever scientists and they captured that creature and put it in a containment field, where it stayed until _you_ let it out! And now we are all going to die!"

"What? Why?" Suddenly it wasn't funny anymore. Rodney was really pissed. He was pacing around the room and his voice kept switching to that horrible, booming roar that came accompanied by a perfect view of sharp teeth.

"Because it sucks energy! The ZedPM is barely charged enough for our normal lives and the naquadah generators, while pretty damned brilliant, thank you very much, are not enough to run everything. We've got the damned thing contained, more or less, but it will move on when it has drained the generators! We'll be without power and any kind of life support and WE WILL DIE!"

Rodney stopped pacing and turned to point at John.

"Do you see now what _you_ have done?"

With that The Beast turned and stormed out of the Infirmary.

"Sorry." John breathed quietly, guilt eating at him.

John, however, was not the type of person who could allow other people to pay for his mistakes, so he pulled himself up, dragged the clothes that were lying on a stool by the bed and began to dress himself.

"What the Hell do you think you're doing?"

John ignored the cross Scottish voice and carried on dressing.

"John! You're not ready!" Carson shimmered back into view.

"Look Carson, I caused this, so I'm going to fix it!"

Ignoring the spluttering doctor, John ran out of the Infirmary and headed for the transporter. Within seconds he was back in the Control room where the ghosts and Rodney were fighting a dark black cloud. They were each carrying a machine with a handle that glowed blue and everyone was shouting. Slowly it was backing away back into the corridors, but there was despair on the faces around them.

"What's happening?" John asked the ghost he knew as Lorne.

"He tried putting it back in its box, but it didn't want to go."

"So now what?"

"The gate!" Teyla cried out. "Dr McKay, send it through the gate!"

"Get a generator" Rodney snapped to one of his ghost minions and then he turned back to Radek "and a MALP! We'll try to get the thing to follow the generator through the gate."

"Why not just carry the generator over there, sir?" Lorne asked.

"Are you mad? That thing has grown! It'll kill anyone who gets near it! Fetch the MALP!"

"It is here! It is here!" Radek cried and then there was fast, organized chaos as the ghosts attached the glowing generator to the strange trolley thing that, John realized, was very like the one that had drawn him into this mess in the first place.

The 'thing'… the MALP trundled slowly towards the gate and the cloud came back, attracted by the energy being expelled.

"It's coming!" Teyla shouted from the balcony.

"It's working!" Rodney shouted gleefully. "Open the gate – M4X 337 – it's barren wasteland!"

The shadow followed the MALP up the slope and there were cheers all around, but then, suddenly, the machine stopped.

"The cloud is not following!" Rodney cried, dismayed.

"Did the MALP go through?" Radek asked.

"It looks like it's stopped." Lorne observed.

"The entity could have drained the battery." Peter suggested.

"Oh crap! It could be feeding off the Stargate itself!" Rodney shouted, pushing the controls again and again, trying to make them work.

"There must be something we can do!" John wasn't aware that he had spoken. This was all his fault.

"Maybe the entity will go through once it has depleted the energy in the generator?" Peter was suggesting, as John decided to act.

There was only one thing he could do, so he started to move towards the cloud, intending to push the thing through himself.

"JOHN! NOOOOOOO!"

Before he knew what was going on, John found himself pushed out of the way. He fell to the floor, able only to watch as The Beast turned to look at him, with his startling blue eyes. It looked, to John in that moment, as though Rodney was trying to commit John to memory. The eyes were no longer filled with anger or arrogance, but with care and satisfaction that John would live on.

Then Rodney turned away and pounced into the cloud.

They all heard the roar and the _kawoosh_ of the gate, The Beast disappeared to shouts of 'Dr McKay!' and 'Rodney!', then suddenly it was all over. The shadow was sucked through the gate and all that was left was The Beast, looking bedraggled and worn. He looked one more time at John, then his eyes rolled and Rodney fainted.

John did a lot of thinking, when he got back to his room.

In the Infirmary he had found the whole team, Ronon, Teyla, Radek and Peter watching nervously as Carson attended to Rodney.

Rodney had been growling and snapping, making even his friend Carson nervous and unable to manipulate the cloth he was using.

"Hold still!" Carson pleaded.

"There's nothing wrong with me!"

"Ye fainted man!"

"I did _not faint!_ I passed out!"

John grinned and decided to intervene. "Yes, Rodney, but passing out is a serious business. Now let the doctor help you."

John stepped forward and took the cloth from the doctor's insubstantial hands. There was a quiet gasp from the audience as Rodney submitted to John's ministrations, and then had listened while John apologized for causing so much trouble. After which, John thanked him, for saving his life.

Rodney had been brave and had really saved his life. John had been ready to sacrifice himself, but Rodney had stopped him and done the deed himself. According to Radek, this was the first time Rodney had ever really put his own life on the line for anyone, and that made John think quite deeply about his captor.

John was aware that he was still a prisoner, but he also felt that he seemed to be slotting in quite nicely. The ghosts were friendly and helpful and Rodney…

It seemed to John that The Beast was different. He wasn't as violent as he had seemed. He wasn't so angry all the time, and he had showed real bravery. Rodney had had no way of knowing that his larger size would protect him, or at least that his increased energy gave him more time in the cloud than a simple human would have had– time enough for him to push the generator through the Stargate.

At least, that was Rodney's theory, which, as The Beast told everyone, meant that it was probably the truth.

His servants really seemed to love him. John had always known that you could tell how good a man or a woman really was by the way they treated their servants. You only had to look at the way Kolya treated his men, to see the truth of that! Rodney, though, was rude and arrogant, intolerant and belittling, and yet his people seemed to really enjoy working for him. Of course, they rolled their eyes at his bragging, they flinched when he was angry and they even _cried_ if Rodney was horrid enough, and yet if he praised them, they floated around on a cloud of pleasure!

He had already observed that Katie, the biologist, and Miko, the little physicist, were both in love with The Beast, but only now could he gain a clearer picture of what they saw in him.

Teyla had told John that her lord wasn't so bad once you got to know him, but John hadn't wanted to believe her. Now he wondered if it was true.


	4. Chapter 4

Le Beau et La Bête - Chapter 4/5

The story so far…

John is a prisoner in Atlantis, but he is gradually learning that The Beast is actually not as awful as he looks. He has even saved John's life…

Le Beau et La Bête – Chapter 4

"I do not believe it!" Radek cried as he joined his fellow ghosts around the monitor, sitting on one of the swivel chairs dotted around the Control Room, or hovering above the consoles.

"Look!" Peter laughed. "It's true!"

On the screen, the balcony was plainly visible and there was moonlight in the background. There were two figures seated on a bench covered with cushions and there were the remains of a picnic meal scattered around. One of the figures was a huge furry creature with sharp teeth and claws for hands and the other was an ordinary human with wild hair. They were playing chess.

"Who is winning?" Radek asked.

"They're even so far." Peter told him. "John surprised him in the first game and beat him easily, but he's been more cautious since then."

"Even I have never beaten him at chess!" Radek whistled and there was chuckling.

"Well, who'd have thought they'd come together on their own?" Peter commented.

"Do you think he can do it?" Carson asked and no one questioned what he meant.

"He has finally learned how to love." Lorne sighed.

"But it is not enough," Teyla reminded them all. "He has to be loved in return."

"If that _hloupÿ _… that _witch_ was lying…" Radek spat.

"I do not think it was her intention to harm," Teyla surmised evenly. "I believe that she wished for The Prince to learn to love. I believe that she was predicting that something such as this might happen."

"Then all he has to do is to get John to fall in love with him and we can all go back to being humans." Carson grinned excitedly.

"Hah! As if anyone, or anything could truly love him!"

They all turned to look at Kavanagh, who had been strangely absent recently.

"I do not believe you really understand him." Teyla told him.

"I understand him alright! He's a cowardly fool who has no idea how to deal with people!"

"He has always been kept away from people." Radek was surprised to find himself standing up for his prince. "He has always been surrounded by servants who were afraid to upset him, by people who should have loved him, but didn't."

"He wasn't even loved by his own family!" Kavanagh spat.

"I do not understand why you stay here." Teyla spoke curiously.

"Because I can't leave!"

"I mean before. Why did you not go away before all of this happened? Why did you stay?"

Kavanagh gave her a hard stare, then turned around and strode out. It would have been far more impressive if he had made a noise as he strode. Slamming the door might have helped, but of course, the ghost had to glide through it instead.

"I think he stayed because this is the only place where you can pursue science for its own rewards." Peter explained. "On other planets and in other places you have to conform to the wishes of your Lord. Here we can study at our own pace and with all the resources we desire, and The Prince doesn't force us to make him weapons, or find ways of improving humans or… or any of the other things that princes demand usually."

"He even allows botanists," Katie chuckled quietly and the others joined in.

"What can we do about John though?" Lorne asked.

"Seems to me McKay's doing OK on his own," Ronon grunted and they all turned to look at him with matching astonished expressions. "What?" There was another pause. "The picnic thing was all his idea."

"The Prince asked me for the chess board," Radek added. "I think he has been planning to play with John since he learned that John likes Mathematical puzzles."

"Carson, does John have the gene?" Peter asked.

"The city seems to respond to him… but, I'm afraid to test him," Carson admitted. "Just think… what if John didn't have it? What if he were to sit in the chair and _nothing happened_!! I don't think I could take that disappointment."

"Well, I believe that we should give our Dr McKay and his guest some privacy," Teyla opined. "We have spied long enough. Who knows, maybe this is the event we have all been waiting for?"

A few days later, Radek, Kavanagh and Carson were sitting on one of the balconies with Rodney. It was the first sunny day in a long time and there was a feeling of quiet camaraderie between them. They were watching John whacking golf balls into the ocean from the South Pier, and even Kavanagh was enjoying the peace.

"What am I going to do?" Rodney asked suddenly.

"Do?" Radek queried.

"I want to do something for him. What can I do?"

"Well, there's the usual, of course." They all looked at Kavanagh. "Chocolates, flowers, promises you don't intend to keep…."

"What does he want?" Rodney asked as they all ignored Kavanagh.

"He only wants to fly," Carson sighed and Rodney's face broke into a smile.

"Close your eyes," Rodney commanded, grinning.

John's eyebrow raised and his brow scrunched in consternation. He had been brought here… dragged here, by The Beast, who was fairly bobbing up and down with excitement, and now he was standing in front of a very closed double door.

"Don't you trust me?" Rodney asked with a little pout.

That was the really strange thing, though. John really did trust Rodney. He trusted Rodney to be brave when necessary, to think quickly and come up with a solution and to do all he could for his people – even though he did it with grumpiness, rudeness and arrogance. Deep down, the prince really cared.

John shrugged and closed his eyes, an action that made Rodney's grin even wider. He opened the doors with a thought and then guided John into the bay.

"Wait a moment."

Rodney left John standing in the middle of the wide room and ran to touch the various hubs in the room, switching them on. He had always been able to do this, but today the machines and computers seemed to hum with satisfaction, as though they had been waiting for this day. The light and brightness that had been missing from the city seemed to be reborn here and Rodney knew, with a surge of delight, that he was doing the right thing.

He darted back to John and then said.

"Open them!"

John opened his eyes and looked… and gasped.

All around him, arranged in bays like some kind of spaceship library, were… pods. They had windows pointing down and they called to him.

"Oh my… Rodney! They're… they're flying ships!"

"You like them?" Rodney asked eagerly.

"Like them?" John breathed. "They're magnificent! I can feel them… they want to fly!"

"They're yours!"

"What?"

"They're yours. Fly them John."

For a long moment John just stared at the grinning Beast, then he threw his arms around him, hugged him and then ran off to the first ship.

After that there was no stopping John. He flew around the planet, he flew into the stratosphere and then down, skimming over the land. He even tried the things under water and he took Rodney with him as often as not.

Rodney loved to watch his friend being so excited, loved to see him gleefully play with the Puddlejumpers – which was the idiotic name that John had given the ships once Rodney had explained that they were really for gate travel.

While it was joyful and wonderful to see John so happy, at the same time, Rodney knew that he was losing him. John spoke such a lot about his step-mother and his brothers, about the planet he had grown up on and his distant father. He had not had an easy time growing up, but it was his home, and Atlantis was not… not his home. Rodney was not his family and this was not the life that John should be leading.

The worst times were when John would go quiet. Sometimes it was during a meal, sometimes while flying around the planet and sometimes while they played chess of an evening. Rodney watched and understood the truth. It was a truth that caused him much pain, but he knew now that he had fallen in love.

The two of them sat on John's favorite balcony with a depleted picnic basket by their side, leaning back watching the moon sink down below the horizon. They had eaten together and Rodney had made a special effort to eat politely. He had even dressed in real clothes rather than the tattered remains of his scientist's overall and John had picked out a new and clean t-shirt and made his hair extra spiky.

The conversation had been easy. They had teased each other and laughed together and Rodney was so in love that he wanted to cry. He had never known the comfort of such companionship and he wished that it would last forever.

Now, however, John had that expression on his face and Rodney knew…

"Are you happy here, John?"

John looked up startled. "Yes, of course!"

"But…?"

"But nothing!"

"There's something missing."

"I just wonder how they are getting on at home. I worry about Elizabeth. I never got to say goodbye."

Rodney sighed, closed his eyes and then made himself speak.

"There's… there's a way."

"A way?"

"A way to see her… to see them."

"Really?"

Rodney stood and indicated that John should follow.

It wasn't far to Rodney's favorite lab, John knew it well and had been there several times. One of his favorite past times was to hang around in Rodney's lab and prevent him from working, but John had never seen the screen that was hidden around a niche in the large open room. Rodney touched the console and it came alive, as John had known it would.

He watched as Rodney's clever digits tapped on the keys, dexterous in spite of the claws. The Beast then opened up one of his portable computers and matched that up. There was a series of beeps and then a picture appeared.

It was John's home planet. There was the forest and the town appeared as though seen through the screen of a jumper. John glanced at Rodney, but he was concentrating on the screen and his console, his face strangely blank.

The town square appeared and then the picture trailed up the main road, out into the meadow and up the hill to the farm.

The picture changed and Rodney smirked.

"This is the really brilliant part. Just don't ask me to explain, because I won't."

There was the living room and…

"OH MY GOD!" John yelled, leaping to his feet. "THAT'S A WRAITH!"

There was a Wraith and Kolya and … and

Neither of them could watch as the Wraith started draining the life out of John's brother Sumner.

"I have to go!" John cried desperately, tears clouding his vision. "Sumner…"

"Yes."

"What?"

"You should go."

"You mean…?

"You can take a puddlejumper and I'll activate the gate for you. There are weapons already loaded and you had better take some of those guns you like so much."

"You… you'll let me go?"

"You're free, John…" Rodney kept his emotion in check just barely. "Take your 'Jumper, the one with all your stuff in. Just… here… take this." He picked up the portable computer. "It's my favorite laptop. It's set up so that the satellite will line up with the city and you'll be able to see m… us. Then perhaps… perhaps you won't forget…"

"Thank you… thank you for understanding how much they need me." John replied and he put out his hand and stroked the hair at the nape of The Beast's neck, right where it made him purr with pleasure.

Then he was gone. Rodney activated the gate and set the DHD for John's home planet. Remotely he watched as the puddlejumper flew through the blue shimmering veil and… and then he was gone.


	5. Chapter 5

Le Beau et La Bête - Chapter 4 ii  
**It wouldn't all fit on the Chapter 4 page, so here's the second part.**

"Dr McKay! Dr McKay!" Radek appeared, agitated. Rodney didn't look at him, but he shifted a little. "The Gate just activated!"

"Yes." Rodney agreed heavily. "It was John. I let him go."

"You… you did what?"

"I let him go. His family needed him."

"But… but… why?" Radek spluttered.

Rodney sat back and hunched his shoulders against the pain.

"The Wraith… his Step-mother needed him… I had to let him go… because I love him." Rodney stood and escaped back to his lonely room by the Chair Room where no one but he would ever go and there he howled his anguish and pain.

When he arrived home in the cloaked 'Jumper, John raced into danger. Sumner was dead and the Wraith's arm was attached to Everett's chest, draining him to old age. Without any 

hesitation, he took out the fancy machine gun that Rodney had given him and, with a few accurate bullets, killed the Wraith. Elizabeth saw him and flung herself at him.

"John! John!" She wept.

"So you've decided to come home have you?"

John looked at the harsh, accusing face of his father and then stood in front of Elizabeth.

His father was standing with Kolya and they were both standing on either side of the Wraith's body.

"Look who's here!" Kolya managed to suppress his surprise. "An added bonus!"

"Father?"

"Keep out of this John," His father said, picking up a pen and a piece of paper.

"What are you doing?" John demanded as his father signed. "Father?"

"Kolya has made a deal that will keep the Wraith away forever." John's father told him with a note of panic in his voice. "Only criminals will be culled from now on and we will be safe."

"No! That's immoral!" John cried, aghast.

"I suggest that you keep your last son quiet," Kolya growled menacingly. "In fact, the price just went up."

"The price?" John asked worriedly.

"Your step-mother is next," Kolya told John, his eyes cold and calculating and his pocked face full of malice. He turned around and saw men, who grabbed him and took his gun. That same gun was put to Elizabeth's head.

"You coward!" John spat.

"All you have to do is to agree to marry my niece and I will spare your mother," Kolya told him equitably.

John gasped. "You would have my stepmother killed to make me marry Mora? What kind of a monster are you?"

"Ah… of course, you know all about monsters," Kolya grinned.

"What?"

"Your monster… the famous monster that your step mother keeps telling us about! Perhaps you should marry him instead!"

"No!" Elizabeth interrupted. "Even that monster was not as bad as you."

"He's not bad," John told her.

"Not bad?" Kolya laughed. "He's a beast! He's _The Beast_! Perhaps I should go and claim his head. Would that bring you to your senses?"

"No!" John couldn't help yelping at the thought.

Kolya looked up with interest, "One would think you had feelings for this monster!"

"He's not a monster, Kolya, you are!"

Kolya laughed, "If you're not with me, then you are against me. Put him in the cellar and I'll deal with him when I get back."

Before John could fight, soldiers in Kolya's distinctive uniform, surrounded him, relieved him of his gun and dragged him off to the cellar, throwing him in and barricading the door.

He tried to force his way out, but there was no way. He could hear the orders being given for mounting the attack. They had found his laptop. John couldn't remember bringing it, but he had evidently just dropped it in his haste to help his brother. He could hear them reading the Gate address and his own ID code that Rodney had given him, and his heart sank. Rodney. He had betrayed Rodney. He hadn't helped anyone; he'd just fallen into Kolya's hands.

Outside there was now silence and the soldiers were off to kill Rodney and Radek and Carson and Peter and all his friends and it was all his fault. All his fault.

"Dr McKay! Dr McKay! We are being attacked!" Radek cried.

"Really?" Rodney had no interest. He just went back to staring out over the ocean.

"We thought it was John! It was his planet that dialed… we let these men in… there is one who knows what he is doing… he's… he's found the console and he's working on it now. They said there are more coming and… and they're going to kill you!"

"Let them kill me."

"We need your help! We can't do anything!"

Rodney said nothing.

"Please, sir!" He called to the morose figure, who refused to stir. "R…Rodney?"

"Let them come," Rodney growled sadly.

"But…"

"It doesn't matter. Atlantis is lost… I am lost… nothing matters."

"But…"

"I want to die," Rodney admitted quietly.

Radek felt the call of his fellow ghosts. They had come up with a plan and even now he knew he had to get back quickly. He left The Beast to his misery and joined the others.

There was a horrid creaking from the wooden floorboards above John's head and, in the darkness of the cellar, he could only guess what was making it. Was it a guard, left behind by Kolya? Or perhaps it was Mora herself, waiting for the signal to come and launch herself at him?

Whoever it was, they were breathing harshly and it sounded as though they were dragging something very heavy across the floor.

Suddenly there was the sound of the lock being pulled back and John sprang to his feet, using the dim light to position himself, ready to ambush his adversary.

The door was opened slowly and then there was the sound of a body falling back. John shoved the door open and pulled himself out of the tight space to find…

"Everett!" John cried out, dropping to the side of the weak husk that had once been his brother. "Oh Ancestors! Everett!"

Everett clutched feebly at John's sleeve and used up precious energy rolling his head around so that he could see his younger brother.

"Go!" He rasped. "Go and save her."

"Elizabeth?"

"He… he took her… save her…" The effort was too much and he dropped his head back.

"Everett…"John sniffed. He had never really got on with his brother, but they were family and it still hurt.

"Go… love…you…" Everett whispered and then he was gone.

John clasped the lifeless hand and wiped away a tear.

"I'll come back, Everett. I'll come back and see to you and Sumner… I'm sorry I wasn't here in time…"

He placed Everett's hand back on his chest and then stood, bowed his head respectfully, and headed back to the Puddlejumper. He had a large number of wrongs to put right and a murder to prevent.

"We stay absolutely quiet." Ronon growled, his voice sounding even more threatening for being so low. "We can move machines and weapons. All we do is set up an ambush."

"Yes! Yes!" Radek agreed happily.

"Shh!" The others hushed him.

"Yes" He agreed much quieter and his accent became much stronger. "I can control iris with other console."

"We all get the biggest thing we can carry and wait in ambush around the left exit." Lorne told them.

There was the whoosh of the Gate activating and they all spun around to look at Radek's console.

"It's him!" Peter cried out, agitated. "It is him!"

"Him?" Carson hissed, almost afraid to ask.

"John!"

In an instant, the defenders stopped being a scared bunch of ghosts and instead banded together. Now they were fighting for _everything._ For their Lord, for his love, for their city and for themselves!

John flew the 'Jumper in through the wormhole, piloting down cloaked from the roof, not caring that he was allowing others in with him. Ronon would organize the defense and he knew that, even though they were all incorporeal bodies, Rodney's people would fight for their Prince and their city. He had to stop Kolya.

Kolya had been one of the first to arrive. He took up a command position in the Control Room and barely took the time to look around the wondrous city. He had been a soldier all his life and he knew that the city would be defended in some way.

He sent his men ahead and heard for himself the moment when the ghosts attacked. It was like a wild whoop of joy and suddenly machines and spears, sticks and guns were flying around the room and his men were falling, but he could pick his way through the battle. If he could find The Beast and kill it, then he could force John to marry Mora. The planet would be his and the people would accept him because of the marriage, which would also please his niece as a bonus. He could even claim the city of the Ancestors as his own and through the marvelous city, he could attack anyone he wished. A satisfied smile broke out over his pockmarked face and he stole his way, confidently, up a staircase.

There were living quarters behind the Control Room and Kolya knew that all he would have to do would be to find the rooms that had been destroyed by the madness of The Beast. Once there, he would rid the world of the monster and ensure that his idea for a prison camp came to fruition and that his niece would marry John. Then he, Acastus Kolya, would be the power behind the throne.


	6. Chapter 6

**Title:** Le Beau et La Bête - The Grand Finale!

**Author: **Fenchurch

**Notes:** This is my SGA version of the Disney film - Beauty and The Beast, with extra bits from the original French tale (no dancing plates!).

**Beta:** **goddess47**, whom I worship and adore! Also help from Rieval, who hates the Disney movie, and **krysalys**, who spotted a huge continuity error!

**The Grand Finale!**

Kolya climbed up the stairs, heading towards the tower. It was only logical that The Beast would live in the central tower, after all it was _his_ city and the most important person should naturally have the central abode. There seemed to be only one way up there, so Kolya climbed up the stairs and happily anticipated the easy victory awaiting him.

The commander gave no thought to his troops, or the battle that raged beneath him. His men were expendable, but he had to kill The Beast and take Atlantis for himself. Only when The Beast was dead, would John consent to marry Kolya's niece.

John would make Mora happy, - Kolya would see to that! - but he would be prevented from wielding any power. Soon John would find himself forced to give up the secrets of his home world and of this shining City and Kolya would quickly overcome fools like Jack O'Neill and his Terrans and the Brotherhood of Manarians. Kolya's future was bright and brilliant and he smiled his most satisfied and predatory smile.

Kolya was correct in his assumptions. The central tower was messy and deep claw marks scored the walls and the broken furniture. On one wall there was a painted portrait that had been slashed in half, but it was easy to see that it had once been an image of the Prince himself, before his transformation, crowned in glory, smug look firmly in place. Kolya barely glanced at the picture.

Heading through the grander corridors brought Kolya to the central Chair Room and there, on a balcony just off the Chair room, he found his prey.

Kolya moved forward with his gun primed and ready, but The Beast turned and looked straight at him, showing a distinct lack of surprise. Kolya stepped backwards in alarm. How had the monster heard him approach? Those teeth were… big!

The Genii Commander needn't have worried. Rodney saw his attacker and didn't care. Without John, his life was meaningless and he heaved a deep rumbling sigh and turned back to stare at the city and the ocean beneath him.

Kolya relaxed and laughed. It was all too easy.

"What's wrong _Beast_?" He crowed. "Have you gone soft? Are you all miserable and lonely? What made you think that someone like John would be interested in a hideous monster like you? Did you really think that he would choose _you_, when he could have the Princess Mora?"

Rodney didn't answer. He didn't need to. He was a genius and he knew that he could never have John.

"You need no longer worry. I shall put you out of your misery."

Kolya raised his gun and shot The Beast.

Rodney cried out in pain. The bullet hit his right side and was horribly painful, but not fatal. He hissed, but waited patiently for his attacker to just kill him. He could hear the soldier raising his gun for a second, lethal shot, but it was interrupted by the last sound he had ever thought to hear.

"Kolya! Noooo!"

"John?" Rodney asked, turning around and thus causing Kolya's second shot to miss him. "John?"

Suddenly the fight was on. Rodney pulled himself up to his full height, mentally ordered the doors to the balcony to close, baring his teeth and claws. He had to fight for John's sake and this measly soldier would pay for his attack. He moved fast and attacked, flinging the gun out of Kolya's shaking hands.

Kolya was taken aback. This was supposed to be a poor, already beaten animal, but now The Beast was fighting back and the Genii soldier fumbled his gun. Rodney pounced and they fought for dominance. The balcony was not large and there was only a shallow wall around it, so both adversaries were aware that they could be pushed over the edge to their deaths. They rolled over and over, first Rodney gaining the upper hand, then Kolya. Rodney had never done much fighting and so didn't know how to use his superior strength, but, in the end, Kolya slipped and Rodney grabbed Kolya by the neck and dragged him over the edge of the balcony.

Kolya pulled and tugged at the strong hand that held him up, but there was nothing he could do to release himself. He saw his death in the monster's eyes and all he could do was beg.

"Please! Please! Don't kill me! I'll do anything! Anything!"

Rodney was petty, rude and bad with people, but he was also a compassionate soul and intelligent. He couldn't kill in cold blood, or even in hot blood, so he relented and pulled his attacker back over the wall to safety. He then growled, showing as many teeth as he could and tried to put as much menace into his tone as possible.

"Get out of my city!" He commanded and then threw Kolya to the ground.

John had tried to help, but Rodney had shut him in the control room, so all he could do was watch and yell, banging helplessly on the windows. When he had seen Rodney drag the Genii Commander over the balcony, he had cried out in triumph, but then he saw Rodney falter. Rodney could never kill; he was too good a person and, when the Prince pulled his adversary back over the edge, even though he wished that Rodney could have just ended the villain's life, John's heart filled with pride and love for his friend.

As the beaten commander fell to the floor, the doors opened themselves and Rodney stepped towards his beloved, shouting, "John! You came back! You came…"

Rodney's exclamation was cut short by the sound of another gun shot. Rodney howled and John sprang forward. Neither of them saw the door fling itself open and knock the Genii Commander over the edge. Kolya screamed as he fell to his death and the City hummed with satisfaction. The interlopers were dealt with and now Atlantis waited for the end.

Down in the Control Room, a crowd of ghosts watched as the terrified soldiers ran back through the Gate, back to their home world. They were afraid of the lethal objects that floated their way, the horrible groans and cries of the magical creatures and it seemed as though the _City itself_ was throwing them out. The air was dark and dank, the corridors were creepy and the soldiers were made to feel unwanted and, without Kolya there to force them to fight, they turned tail and ran.

The cheers of the ghosts rang happily throughout the City, until the thunder clap that made them all stop celebrating.

"What is it?" Radek asked tremulously.

"I dinna know," Carson replied, his accent broadening in his consternation, "but the city isnae happy."

The ghosts exchanged glances and cried out together, "RODNEY!"

"_RODNEY_!" John shouted as Rodney reacted to the shot and stared directly into his loved one's eyes, before crumpling to the ground. "_RODNEY! NOOOOOOOOOOOO!"_

John reached his friend's side and laid him out, but it was cold on the balcony. Rodney couldn't die… he just couldn't… and he would not die out there in the cold! John grasped Rodney under his arms and dragged The Beast inside, then he dropped by his side and howled.

"Rodney!" He sobbed. "Don't you dare die on me! _Don't you dare_!"

The Beast opened his eyes and looked over at his beloved. "John." He whispered.

"Rodney?" John knelt by his side and grabbed The Beast's hand. "Rodney!"

Rodney saw John's tears and wondered at them. John was crying for _him_!

"John… you came back."

"Of course I came back! Oh! This is all my fault! If only I'd gotten here sooner!"

"Maybe it's better this way."

"Don't talk like that! You'll be alright! You'll see!" John sniffed. "We're together now! Everything's going to be fine. You'll see!"

Rodney sighed, "At least… at least I got to see you… one last time…" He reached up and placed a gentle paw on John's cheek, but his strength was gone and he fell back.

"No!" John cried, tipping backwards. "No!" He scrambled back and pulled himself up by the arm of the chair. "Please, don't leave me! Rodney… Rodney… I love you!"

Carson, Radek and the other senior ghosts arrived at this point and saw, in horror, that their Prince was no longer breathing. Carson stepped forward and would have grasped John's arm as he flung himself back at Rodney's body, but suddenly there was a flash of light.

It fell like a large shining raindrop onto the balcony and there was a sound like the swish of an arrow loosed from a bow. It was followed by a second flash, then more flashes and the ghosts stepped backwards in alarm, exchanging horrified glances. Were they all about to die too? Was this the end of the City of Atlantis?

"Look at the chair!" Kavanagh hissed suddenly and they all turned to see that the Control Chair was glowing blue. The light spread from the chair and a huge coil of blue light streamed out of it and wrapped itself around Rodney.

"It must be John!" Carson cried out. "_John has the gene_!"

John scrambled backwards again and found himself drawn towards the chair, where he sat and watched, helplessly, as the light pulled Rodney up into the air.

There was a swell of music and bright white lights shone all around, twinkling and sparkling like stars. Rodney was turned over and surrounded in the bright light, until suddenly, light shot out of his fingers and toes as though they were torches. The light spread all over, turning The Beast around and around in mid-air until they could all see that the fur on The Beast's body was being parted and… and dissolved. The claws on his fingers and toes became soft and pink and his bowed back became straight and strong. Finally the light reached The Beast's neck and hair. The hair became shorter and more spiky, then the hair on The Beast's face retreated and left a round, human face.

At last the light placed Rodney back on the ground and retreated, although the magic seemed to hang in the air, waiting for something.

Rodney pulled himself up and looked down at his body, which was clothed in the loose rags and the tattered science lab overalls still. He looked at his chest, which was healed and no longer wounded, his legs, his knees and his hands, and then, in wonder, he turned and looked at John.

John watched all of this not knowing whether to be afraid or overjoyed. He had no idea if this was a good thing or not. The Beast had changed and… intellectually he had known that Rodney had once been human, but… but he had fallen for The Beast, the monster…

There was only one thing he could do. John stood and reached out. He needed to touch him, to see if he was real, to see if he was the same. His hair felt soft and fine like the fur he had known, and it was the same sandy, light color. John stroked just behind the man's ear and he purred, just as John's Beast used to. The shoulders of the man before him were as proportionately broad as The Beast's had been, and the face was exactly the same, minus the fur; round and firm with a strong chin and a slightly sloping mouth.

Lastly, John looked up into the bright blue eyes of this new man, and… and…

"Rodney!" He breathed in joy. "Rodney! It _is_ you!"

John flung himself around his Beast, his Prince and laughed, swinging Rodney around.

"John…" Rodney giggled, and then he looked around at their laughing audience. "Carson! Radek! Teyla! You're… you're… _solid_!"

The gathered scientists hadn't realized that they were being affected by the magic. The white lights swirled around the former ghosts and made them back into the men and women who had come to serve and work with their prince. It wasn't just the people; the light swirled around the City too and dark corridors became light, the machines glowed and sparkled and power surged throughout the castle.

"Oh my God! It worked!" Kavanaugh cried out. "The power's back!"

"It is beautiful once more!" Teyla laughed and the scientists hugged each other, marveling in the solidity of their bodies and the ability to touch each other once more.

While their attention was directed at the marvels around them, John and Rodney found themselves alone and unobserved. John pulled Rodney close and, after staring for a long moment into each others' eyes, they kissed.

_Epilogue_

Elizabeth came to live in Atlantis and she found the friendship and the intellectual challenge in the City for which she had been searching for most of her life. John's father remained in the farmhouse and was mainly forgotten. John buried his two brothers and honored them, but his heart was no longer there on the planet where he had grown up. He lived in the City of the Ancestors where Prince Rodney ruled and welcomed people who wished to study, even if they wished to study a stupid subject like _anthropology_ that wasn't really a science.

All of Rodney's servants and scientists chose to remain in Atlantis, even Kavanagh, and John even managed to persuade Queen Jeannie to visit her brother once in a while. The city loved John and, now that they had the power of the ZPM back, she revealed more and more of her secrets to him every day.

The Genii became friends… kinda…, Mora married someone else, and everyone was invited to the City when Prince Rodney married John. The celebrations lasted all night and, from her perch on one of the turrets of the marvelous city, Chaya, the Enchantress who was really an Ancient surrounded in glowy white light, smiled and nodded.

_Everything was as it should be and everyone could now _

_live happily ever after._

_The End!_


End file.
